Each time I read the news I see dire warnings about technology: Robots are taking our jobs! Driverless cars are speeding through our streets! Hackers are stealing our secrets! It’s easy to become frightened and pessimistic about the future of technology in our world. In contrast, my experience working directly with young children in computer science and robotics classes tells me a very different story. I see children building and programming robots, creating their own games using code, and collaborating with each other to solve problems and help others. As a result of my experience teaching young children coding and robotics, I am very optimistic about the future. I have confidence in the creativity, ingenuity, empathy, and compassion I see children demonstrate when they are given the opportunity to engage with computer science and robotics in meaningful ways.
When you imagine a classroom where computer science is taught, the picture that comes to mind may include students sitting in uniform rows, silently staring at screens. That scene may be true in some settings, but the computer science classrooms most familiar to me are active, busy, noisy places where young children play on the floor with colorful robots, collaboratively build block structures using a colorful variety of shapes and patterns, and create animated stories about friends and families.
You can read more of my blog post for Early Insights here:
https://earlyinsights.org/why-im-optimistic-about-children-and-technology-a3f311682b7
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